Innocence
by Heero91
Summary: The village began to burn around them, men and women screaming as they were cut down. So they ran. With nothing but the clothes on their backs the girls fled into the woods mindless of the stories they'd been told as children. The Silent Woman and the Hanged Man, the Bastard Cerberus, the Spider Keeper, the Long Shadows and the Keep of Damned Souls. They ran from fire into the cold
1. Chapter 1

Title; Innocence

Disclaimer; Nope I don't own any of the Naruto characters.

* * *

I.

"I'm cold." The blonde girl put it into words but each of the three had been thinking it for as long as they'd been in the forest. Away from the fires that had once been their village the chill Autumn air had begun to kept into their bones.

"We should find shelter." Came the blondes shaky voice again as she drew closer to the raven haired girl beside her for heat. It did little good though, all three had been in their nightwear when the attack had begun and her friends skin was colder than her own as they shivered together.

"We can't, they'll be looking for us." The tallest and oldest of the girls stood apart from the other two but as she spoke her eyes fell on the third girl still silent except for her shivering. She was an orphan that ran messages, served food and even sometimes assisted the villages blacksmith, they would not be looking for her but the third girl...

"So what, my father can pay them. They'd have fires and food and…" The blonde drifted off as the brunette sent her a scatting look that stole her confidence. Daughter of a silk merchant, with her father's wealth she may have been ransomed…if the raiders hadn't burned her family home and taken everything worth a penny from it beforehand.

"They're savages Ino, you can't reason with them." The brunette pressed on but slower than before. Taller and stronger she may have been but she was the thinnest too and shivering the hardest of the three.

"But Tenten I'm-" The blonde, Ino, was cut off as the older girl spun on her heel and whipped a hand across her cheek.

"You stupid girl, if you go back there those horsemen will strip you naked and pass you around their camp until the sunrises. They'll break your perfect little teeth when you try and tell them about daddy whip you bloody and stick their cocks where ever they damn well please." Tenten moved again pulling the still silent third girl with her. For a few moments Ino only stared at their retreating backs before she went scrambling after them.

All three girls huddled together and with a dry clap of heavenly anger the rain began to fall in a thick torrent.

* * *

"Where are we Hinata?" asked Ino tucking herself as tightly against the other girl as she could. They were the same age, just past sixteen and had grown up together but they'd never been friends really, friendly but not friends.

"A castle." Hinata answered lightly holding the other girl just as tightly. They'd come upon the looming fortress what felt like hours ago and Tenten the bravest of them had wandered off to explore the seemingly abandoned grounds while the other two hunkered together in the ruins that once served as an entrance gate.

The castle stood like an old man, bent and weary traced all over with wrinkles. Roots and weeds seemed to sprout between cracks in every stone near the ground and each and every metal fixture was rusted beyond recognition. There were no lights though as only the occasional flash of lightning revealed the dark palace with its crumbling towers broken windows and overgrown gardens.

It looked like something Hinata had once had nightmares about after having heard one too many ghost stories from her uncles. But she didn't say that to Ino, the silk born girl was already jumping at shadows and seeing eyes in the treeline.

"Does anyone live here?" asked the blonde and Hinata shook her head instantly. In all the maps and charts her father had shown her there had never been a castle marked in these woods but she felt confident in saying no one occupied it now. It had to be half flooded with all this rain and so many broken windows anyway.

"Tenten's been gone too long." Spoke Ino again through her chattering teeth squeezing Hinata tighter. The brunette had only went in search of dry wood in the shade of the castle or its outer walls but in the time she'd been absent they could have circled the ring half a dozen times. She could have fallen or been attacked by some wild animal or even simply abandoned the two soft born girls to fend for themselves but…

"She'll be back any minute now." Hinata answered more confident than she felt. It calmed the other girls trembling back to simple shivering for a moment at least though. Still as much time had passed again soon enough without any sign of their companion. The rain only grew heavier and the thunder more frequent.

There was a rusted clatter and a sharp squeal from above and both girls went tumbling back into the rain as the ancient gate came rushing down from its hiding place. Ino went left and Hinata went right and then both went rushing back as it became apparent that the gate was not going to strike again.

"It's stuck." Even with both of them lifting the gate refused to move an inch, its long fangs sunk deeply into the hard brown soil. Ino had begun to sob as she tried desperately to wrench the gate back up and Hinata began to shush her gently as she could. Until the blonde blinked and took a step back wide eyed. The dark girl inside the gate twisted to see what had caused the reaction and felt hopeful for a moment. High above the ground in one of the castle's windows candle light shun.

"Ino there's someone here, maybe Tenten woke them. I can get help." The dark girl rushed out ready to do just that. Except her companion was quick to grasp her arm in an icy tight grip, as Hinata glanced back she could see Ino's face had drained of whatever colour it had still possessed and her bright blue eyes were filled with naked terror.

"Don't go Hinata, don't leave me alone." She begged softly pulling at the other girls arm in her desperation. There was a sob only half broken in her voice and for a moment Hinata almost stayed for the girls sanity alone. But they might freeze to death long before anyone knew they were there, or starve if not that.

"It's only going to be for a few minutes okay, just to get help okay Ino." She didn't wait to hear her friends reply, the words hadn't warmed the other girl or dispelled her fear and if Hinata stayed a moment longer she mightn't have the resolve to leave after all.

The winds were howling worse than Hinata had ever experienced in her life and they threw her around as she ran across the courtyard pummelling her with twigs and leaves and muck as the rain cut through her thin clothes to lash her shoulders. The lightning came more than once as she bolted over the ruined path and frightened her to move even faster. Finally she hit the thick door and began to pound on it.

With a low whistle it swung open and she was inside.

Dripping wet and as filthy as the lowest beggar from the slums she took in the massive entrance hall. A roaring fire had been lit in the very centre of the room loosing thick black smoke high into the air to pass through holes cut in the celling but strangely Hinata couldn't feel any heat from it. Everything seemed to be at odds with itself, as if someone had taken three separate castles and swished them together. The portrait of a noble looking man on the right hand wall had been torn a quarter of the way down where an earlier underlying painting continued of a woman's naked body.

Arm chairs, couches and tables. Everything in the room seemed to start as one thing before suddenly changing into something else, sometimes subtlety and more often less so. A statue had its hands and half its face removed and replaced with large burning candles. What at first seemed to be a bear skin rug she soon realised was in fact scales cut and sown together only to resemble a bear's form. Another rug had been made of parts of paintings sown together, each of the edge squares were of painted hands seemingly severed and reaching out for the next of its kind and within the ring of hands were eyes and noses and smiles all mismatched and jumbled together in a wash of colours. Hinata had turned to a suit of armour dressed in skins when she heard the clatter of footsteps on the marble stairs.

The woman that stepped into view was as strange as the room they stood in. Pink haired she possessed a pair of green eyes Hinata thought might just be capable of glowing in the dark. One foot was bare while the other wore heels four or five inches high forcing her to walk with a broken rhythm and unnatural posture. She wore a house maids uniform that looked to have been torn and mended a thousand times with new fabrics added in carelessly here and there. Her skin was as pale and flawless as alabaster except for two obvious stretches along the insides of her arms were scars crisscrossed her veins from her wrists to her elbows.

Blankly without a word or a smile she stared at the intruder.

"I'm sorry, I'm from the village, Konoha. We were attacked and my friends and I we-" Hinata stopped talking as the other woman turned and began to climb the stairs again in her broken hobble giving Hinata a slight glimpse as the scars that also lined her half bare back. The pink haired women silently raised a hand and waved for the girl to follow.

The halls twisted like worms as Hinata followed the silent servant suspiciously eying each and every painting that seemed to follow the style of being torn and snitched together with another one until finally a complete one caught her eye and she found herself asking.

"Who is he?" The dark man depicted by the artist could have been a corpse if his skin was as pale as the work suggested. He looked a graceful sort of feral with his cold expression and the pale hand grasping the blade at his hip. It was the energy that the painter had captured that made the work unnerving though, his muscles looked almost to be twitching beneath his linen shirt and his eyes. Hinata couldn't help but think there was fury in those dark eyes and pain too, more than the dead eyes of a painting should rightfully possess.

The servant woman didn't answer though. She only stopped a moment to stare at the painting too and then slowly reached out a hand caressing the ink as if it were some lover long thought to be lost. Then she was moving again the click of her one shoe echoing in the young woman's ear.

She only paused again when they reached a pale oaken door. The pink haired servant woman stared at Hinata for a moment until it donned on the dark haired girl she was supposed to enter. Softly Hinata stepped past the silent woman and pushed her way inside.

The room could have been called a sanctuary, but only if your idea of a sanctuary was truly barren. The room was consistent where the other rooms Hinata had seen were not. It was Spartan though only a small fire against one wall revealing half of the room, two dark armchairs, a wolf's pelt and a table lying between them and a tapestry of a red and white family crest hanging over the fire.

"Who are you?" A cold voice came from behind one of the chairs as a shadow rose. It was the man from the painting, or his twin. He looked as old as the woman outside, maybe his mid-twenties or older, but he seemed less…strange. He dressed like her father would in his study, a heavy smoking robe over silken nightwear. In the darkness Hinata couldn't read his expression.

"I'm Hinata H-hyuuga, daughter of Hiashi Hyuuga of K-konoha. O-our village was sacked and my friends and I ran into the woods, t-they're both outside now if you could…" Hinata trailed off her stumbled speech. What was it she wanted. Shelter for a night. Help getting out past the fallen gate. Food. Clothing.

"Sit. Sakura!" His voice came like iron and the dark girl found herself skittering across the room to the fireside. Just like the fire in the first room this one seemed to give off no real heat, only smoke and light. The servant woman cracked open the door poking her head back in.

"If you would be so kind." Was all the man offered by way of command before he settled back into his seat. The dark girl was still filthy and didn't want to ruin her hosts chair.

"Sit Hinata Hyuuga." His voice came again in the same tones her father had always used and she'd always feared. This time she listened and sat lightly on the edge of the plush seat. She took a chance to examine her host, even in the orange light of the fires flames he seemed ghostly. Pale with dead angry eyes. After a moment Hinata's panic passed and her sense caught up with her.

"My friends they're-" she cut off as the door banged open and the woman from earlier, Sakura, re-entered a basin of water in her arms. Unceremoniously she dumped the basin at the side of Hinata's chair causing her to jump at the clatter as the steaming water splashed and swirled. She dumped a bundle of cloth next to the water before she stalked out of the room tersely the dark man's eyes on her back.

"You'll have to forgive my friend…she's weary of new faces. Your friends though are already inside the castle, the others found them." He smiled but Hinata didn't think it was a pleasant thing. Maybe that wasn't quite fair to say, on his handsome features it was an alluring quirk of the lips but it held no kindness to it. Instead the smile felt sharp, like a blade wrapped in velvet.

"Your friend?" Asked Hinata carefully pulling the basin closer to wash up as the man gestured for it. He smiled again but less wickedly. Her friends were already in the castle, he'd said friends so that had to mean both Ino and Tenten. If Tenten had roused the household it made sense, they would've went to the gate where Ino had waited.

"You took her for a maid I suppose, most do. It pleases her to serve me so I allow her too." Answered the still nameless man. There was an arrogance to him that Hinata could almost feel strangling the air. Pleases her to serve? She could still see the way the odd woman had stroked his painting. Reverent.

"I-I…yes I did…mister..?" Spoke the Hyuuga as she tried to get the thick muck from her legs. It seemed rooted though, as if it had become part of her in the short few hours it had spent clinging to her in the forest. Only when she glanced up did the girl realise the man had moved, silent as a thief to kneel before her. Sharply his hand reached out wrapping tight around her ankle. His hands were cold, colder than Ino or Tenten had been when they were running through the rain. A scalding cold.

"Sasuke Uchiha. Leave your feet to soak and dress yourself." He spoke before rising fluidly to his feet and striding from the room. The Hyuuga girl had only enough time to grab one of the thicker warmer looking tunics and replace her nightgown before the door creaked open again.

"My friends are in the castle now?" She asked again as the dark man, Sasuke, returned to his seat depositing a three pronged candle stick on the small circular table. Sakura was only moments behind with a silver tray balanced dangerously on her arm.

"They are." He answered dully as the tray was dropped only slightly less haphazardly than the basin had been. A host of smells assaulted the young girl as the dark man passed her a bowl of thick soup, some were good and as many more were bad but Hinata was too hungry to be picky. Two wine glasses were filled before Sakura left them again, still silent.

"She doesn't talk much does she?" Hinata found herself asking perhaps less than politely as the hot water began to restore feeling to her legs and the too sweet soup quelled her hunger. The dark man smiled now with all the wickedness and mirth of a snake about to strike.

"Women with no tongues rarely do." Was his callous reply spoken as the pink haired woman entered the room again. She didn't miss a beat though or even seem to notice Sasuke's words as she took to standing by his seat lopsided. The pale man glanced up toward her for a moment.

"Sakura show me your beautiful smile." His tone was so flat it almost seemed like he wasn't mocking her. Sakura certainly didn't seem to think so as her lips stretched wide in a jubilant grin for the man revealing rows of broken teeth and the ruin of a tongue, softly he smiled back at her. Then she faced Hinata again and her expression was like ice. Her soup had quickly lost its appeal all too suddenly.

"Thank you for your hospitality but I really should get my friends and leave. I wouldn't want the raiders to give you trouble for helping us." As Hinata had spoken Sasuke's left brow had rose in an expression she couldn't interpret as much more than sardonic. This man seemed to enjoy belittling people. As she went to rise though Hinata found she could not, there was a weight to the man's presence she couldn't seem to refuse.

"Those men won't find this place I assure you, and I've offered you no hospitality only what I must. Your friends are not here to take besides." Offered Sasuke plainly crossing one leg over the other and taking a long sip of his wine, softly the mute woman at his side settled herself on the arm rest and leaned over his shoulder.

"You said they were in the castle. Why can't we leave?" The young woman was growing more and more worried as the seconds ticked by. Everything in this castle seemed to offend some sixth sense in her. But she still couldn't stand up, she couldn't seem to move at all as the thin pale man rose to hover over her.

"You may leave whenever you like. But it was others that found your friends not I, they're below us now in the cellars." He spoke reaching and taking the second glass in his hand, softly he pressed it to her lips tipping a sip of the dry sharp wine into her mouth.

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Hinata as the sensation that they all were prisoners trapped in this fortress took hold of her. Sasuke laughed, a sound much like his smile, it sounded like bones cracking wetly beneath muscle and blood.

"What do you think it means Hinata Hyuuga?" he asked scornfully as he returned to his seat. Sakura had completely curled around him now and for a second Hinata feared that was what was intended for her. Had Sakura came here before seeking refuge from a storm and been transformed into that.

"I'm a prisoner." Hinata spoke and Sasuke snorted rolling his eyes.

"Not particularly bright are we? I told you, you may leave whenever you wish I do not keep prisoners. You've nothing to fear, in this place no harm can befall an innocent." He emptied the wine glass after he spoke and the woman who was his friend but played his servant climbed back to her feet to refill it. Hinata still couldn't stand up though.

"We're all innocent, we haven't committed any crimes." Hinata knew that as a fact, neither of the other girls were any more criminals than she herself was. Sasuke only smiled though, sadly for a moment before the cruelty swallowed that ghost up.

"Not that kind of innocence." The dark haired girl blushed prettily for a moment as she realised what the man had actually been implying.

"What is this place?" asked the Hyuuga, frightened and confused and wishing she could go back to hungry and soaked with her friends outside.

"I think you've already figured that out Hinata Hyuuga. You should leave soon."

* * *

And that's part one of an intended three. Going full on gothic horror here so I do hope you folks enjoy. Next part will be out as soon as it's ready and not a second sooner nor later so hope you're intrigued.

R&R


	2. Chapter 2

Title; Innocence

Disclaimer; Nope I don't own any of the Naruto characters.

* * *

II.

It was the noise that kept her awake.

The silent woman had led her to this room, with its mismatched curtains, broken mirrors and empty portraits. She'd given her a sleeping dress just as soft and warm as the ones she'd owned in her father's manor but hidden beneath the sheets heavy and exhausted she still couldn't sleep as the noises began.

It wasn't the rain or the howling winds, nor the raging thunder and its dangerous companion's flashes. None of that bothered her. It was the creaking first, of old wood straining under pressure. Then the clapping, of a headboard against stone and of flesh on flesh. Finally the groans, one clearly masculine and almost angry and the other high and feminine and in equal parts frightened and excited.

They were loud enough she could have sworn they were in the room with her and every time she closed her eyes Hinata could see them. The dark mocking man ravaging the silent scarred woman beneath him, taking her roughly over and over again without pause. Again and again Hinata heard the groans, the creaks of their bed and then the sharp crackling of leather striking flesh.

Before she knew what she was doing the Hyuuga girl had pulled a robe from one of the broken stained wardrobe and found herself rushing from her room down the corridor. Further and further away from the noises as they grew more violent, shouts of rage, whimpering, another crack of leather and a scream...Hinata couldn't seem to get far enough away to drown it out completely.

She was lost by the time she came to the dead end but for a heavy iron door. She should have back tracked, searched for the stairs back to the foyer or a window, anyway out she could find. But the sounds were still ringing in her ears and instead she pushed open the heavy door and stepped inside.

It was a library, or it had been at one point. The shelves had all been stripped bare and Hinata found herself stepping down into a puddle as the heavy door swung closed behind her with a dull bang and click. The ceiling had fallen through in the very centre of the room, old grey rubble piled beneath the opening. Rain water had pooled a foot high in the room or so it seemed. When Hinata tried the door she found it locked behind her.

With no other choice Hinata stepped further into the room almost losing her balance as her bare foot plunged down a step further than she'd anticipated. The water was to her mid-thigh by the time Hinata was sure she'd completed all the steps to the rooms floor and shivered at the icy cold grip the rain water had on her calves.

Shivering and pulling her robe tighter over her shoulders the dark haired youth made her way around the rubble and the downpour coming through the broken ceiling. More stairs were at the other end of the room leading up to a higher level and the girl hoped to an exit and she quickly picked up her pace. That was a mistake.

She felt the ground tremble slightly before the stone beneath her gave out and she went tumbling. Her ankle twisted painfully beneath her and she felt her head collide roughly with stone as she fell into the hidden sinkhole. Dazed beneath the water in the room beneath the library Hinata kicked and struggled as she felt something behind her catch her robe. A silent scream broke the water as she twisted enough to see the skeletal face leering at her and the rib bones digging into her thick robe.

The old bones broke as Hinata struck them tearing her robe off desperately as she felt her lungs burning and her head pounding. A faint light glinted above her and she forced her way back through the hole climbing back into the library furiously on scrapped hands and knees where the broken stones grazed her as she pulled herself up.

She wanted to scream all over again as her back hit the stairs and she stared at the spot she knew the sinkhole waited, just barely a shadow in the shallow water hiding bones and bodies. But she was cold too, only clad in a nightdress now, and she was too frightened of what might come if she did scream to allow herself the reprieve. Her feet and shoulders were numb with the cold and her hands and knees burned and stung.

It was dry upstairs and there was a fire built high in a hole in the wall on one side of the room, though like all the other fires had this one seemed to give no heat no matter how close Hinata got to it. The books from below had been brought up here too it seemed, a table had been stacked with volumes and a dozen or more piles littered the room's corners piled up against the already full shelves.

Hinata was still holding herself by the fire when she heard the sound of a door creaking open, with it came the soft click of heels and the return of the noises she'd come in here to escape. Quickly she ducked behind one of the piles of books as a familiar figure hobbled into view. It had only been one heel she'd heard and it made her wonder whom it had been she'd heard before then with Sasuke. If not his servant friend had the dark master of this place been with one of her friends, Ino or Tenten. Was that why he wouldn't let her see them. Had she been so close to them in her bedchamber.

For the moment Hinata contented herself with watching the woman only now noticing the glinting blade in her hands, it was hard to notice anything but her bright green eyes at a glance. They seemed brighter in the moonlight. For a few seconds she did nothing, only stand awkwardly staring out through the library's tall windows at the rain, after a few seconds though Hinata noticed the glittering on the woman's cheeks and realised she had begun crying. Like a living statue the pale pink haired woman sobbed to herself without a sound and raised her thin blade. Hinata watched her horrified as she began cutting into her own arm tracing over the scars glowing in the moonlight.

She had reached her elbow and covered the stone beneath her in scarlet before she stopped with a short harsh gasp. There was a clatter above us on the roof and a moment later a black shadow fell through the opening in the ceiling. There were splashes and curses in a harsh voice before the man appeared clambering up the steps dripping rain water.

"Stupid woman." Snarled Sasuke Uchiha pushing his soaked hair from his glaring eyes. If his companion heard the insult though she didn't care, a wide broken smile stretched her pale lips and her tears fell more freely before she crashed into the dark man wrapping one pale arm and one blood soaked arm around him. I watched her grip him, rubbing his back and chest like one might a missing pet.

"I'm back, I'm still here. Show me…show me your beautiful smile." He offered more gently than Hinata thought him capable. Sakura pulled back from him still crying and smiling at him and he offered her a small tight smile of his own in return. Her blood was still dripping to the floor though neither of them seemed to notice it. Her expression changed for a second, more frightened and excited as she leaned up on the toes of her bare foot and pressed her chin up. Hinata had seen Ino like that before and even Tenten once, the silent woman was looking for a kiss. But the dark man didn't close the distance, instead his black eyes flickered for a moment to land directly on her hiding place.

"Go fix your arm Sakura." He ordered slipping away from the woman as easily as a shadow might, it was so sudden that his companion fell forward onto her hands and knees without him to support her. He didn't seem to notice though as he strode purposefully toward Hinata, she heard an angered hissing from the fallen woman as she too noticed the younger woman.

"You've been wandering." He didn't say it like a question but Hinata couldn't be sure. All at once she was aware that she'd been spying on them. She became even more conscious for her dress though as the man's eyes dropped to take in her profile without shame or subtlety. She blushed and then paled at the look the other woman sent her as she stalked from the room.

"I um, there was, ah." The words got tangled in her mouth as Hinata tried to explain herself. Why she felt the need to didn't even occur to her, she could see her father in him again, Hiashi Hyuuga's scorn, his disappointment, his ire. An explanation wasn't necessary though as the door opened with Sakura's departure, the moans and the shouts came echoing through. One of the dark man's eyebrows raised.

"You were trying to escape that? Bashful aren't you, or was it putting naughty thoughts in your sweet young mind." He'd moved closer and with it seemed to have changed persona, the starkness and cold distain falling away. It were as if he were two people at once, one young, cruel and mocking the other older weary and almost kind if strict.

"I thought it was you." She didn't know why she said it, maybe to try and make him somewhat uncomfortable too. It did not seem to, if anything the amused spark in his eyes grew brighter as he drew closer again and Hinata moved away until her back hit a shelf and she had nowhere to go.

"Was it Sakura you imagined me with then? First my servant and then my whore, you certainly don't think much of her." Sasuke spoke as he closed the distance pressing a palm against the shelf that held her back. Hinata could feel the cold from his body, see small icicles forming in his dark hair, smell the blood that stained his clothes from his 'friend'.

"Or did you imagine it was you beneath me, at my mercy." He leaned in to whisper cold breath burning the shell of her ear.

"No, I um, I've never, ah." Again her tongue failed her as Hinata accepted that for moments, near the beginning mostly before it seemed violent, she'd found the imagines her mind created absent Sakura with her beneath the handsome dark man instead. His fingers, his tongue, him touching everywhere. She wanted to say it was fear pushing the unbidden thoughts, worries that he might come to her bed next…but then she'd only be telling half the truth as the thoughts sent tingles through her.

"You're much too delicate for this place." He muttered not entirely scornful as he moved away. He turned away from the girl to stare at the raging weather outside and she couldn't help but wonder what exactly he had been doing out there…what had happened with Sakura though she'd rather just forget entirely.

"You grew up near here, have you heard the stories?" asked the dark man leaning himself casually against a reading table and crossing his arms. Slowly the Hyuuga peeled herself away from the bookshelf, wary of both the dark man and the pool of blood she found herself caught between them.

"What stories?" asked Hinata stepping slightly closer to the drenched dark man. The air felt colder around him, but Hinata didn't feel as bothered by it now. She was forgetting what it was like to be warm now.

"You'd probably call them ghost stories…though in this place they're recorded history." Whispered the dark cold man darkly. Hinata could see the shards of ice clearly now in his hair, frozen icicles hanging just before his eyes. If he noticed them or felt the cold he didn't show it.

"I-I don't like ghost stories." Hinata replied reflexively. The soft girl could never sleep after even the lamest story her friends had enjoyed telling during storms and festival parties and somehow she thought this dark man's tales would be worse than anything they could conjure.

"Maybe you do have some sense then. I don't know which one is the oldest but I do remember which one Sakura showed me first." He responded leading the girl closer to the fire. It was almost more disturbing for her to see him in its orange light, the specks of ice glistening but failing to weep or melt, the scarlet stains on his light glowing faintly.

"S-Sakura told you?" asked the Hyuuga girl in turn moving as close to the fire as seemed wise and clutching her knees. Even beside it her breath misted and she found herself shivering.

"Showed me. We didn't meet until after she'd lost her tongue and I didn't even guess her name for years, I may still truly not know it now. But she has other ways of communicating." A tremor struck the pale girl as she listened and the Uchiha's eyes glanced away. The pink haired woman stood not very far away, her arm roughly sewn together. She stared at the man across from her expectantly for a moment before skulking away, her single heel clacking against stone.

"There were two orphan boys, the closest of friends and inseparable. They made a living using one of the boys talents, a fat boy who promised that he would eat anything." Sasuke spoke ignoring his companions appearance and exit. For the moment the only thing that seemed to hold his attention were the crackling flames of the fire.

"As a joke or maybe a challenge one wealthy village they passed offered the boys a small fortune for a mystery meat. Macabre folk that they were they placed before the always hungry boy a thief who'd been captured, he was to lose a hand for the crime." As he spoke his dark eyes rolled lazily back to the shivering girl capturing her own pale pair. He smiled flexing his outstretched hand and Hinata gulped.

"They laughed and laughed, until the boy began. They found it less amusing as the gruesome brat sucked down flesh and muscle off the thief's bones and he howled…begging for someone to lop the hand off. They paid the money and sent the boys away but the damage had been done, the boy had discovered his favourite meal." His eyes went back to the flames, the orange light dancing in their hollow deeps. Slowly his cracked lips stretched into a smile without humour.

"First it was the easiest prey, children, cripples, fools. But as the boys grew so did there viciousness. One boy grey tall and thin, slicking through the night to claim victims for his brother. The other became so fat there was no moving him, swollen and disfigured his outside matched the monster stirring inside him. They burned them, some army host when a noble woman went missing. They say the fat one ate his partner before the flames claimed his life, desperate for one last meal." The thunder clapped as he finished his disturbing little story. He glanced at Hinata still clutching her own hand.

"There was another man in these woods too. He'd been raised by wolves and became like them himself, lead a pack of vicious mutts and took maidens from the villages as concubines, bitches for him and his brothers. You've heard that one?" asked the dark man drawing closer but Hinata could only shake her head. She'd heard no stories of beast men or cannibals and she hadn't wanted to.

"What about the Hanged man then, and the woman who follows him?" He was in front of the fire now, close enough to touch her if he wanted. Hinata however couldn't help but notice the way the flames drew back away from him, but only for a second.

"He was a noble soldier, engaged to a common girl he'd fallen in love with. Revolt came and he had to go fight, they lost though and when he came back to the village he was in chains. They hung him in front of his fiancé and she stayed silent forever after that." That one she had known, most of the village girls did and she'd heard half a dozen versions of it during the last Autumn festival alone. For a moment Sasuke smiled gently, the same way he smiled at Sakura to reassure her and Hinata felt a knot twist in her stomach. Without the cruelty or the mocking, when he smiled genuinely like that…

"He was actually hung twice." Commented Sasuke almost lightly his smile falling away to a tight frown. Hinata found herself responding with a soft 'what'.

"It was an enemy invasion not a revolt but otherwise you have the beginning right. The victors hung the soldier and he died. I'm sure you can guess what would happen to a pretty girl though after her village was conquered?" spoke the Uchiha and Hinata couldn't help remember Tenten's sharp words to Ino, it made the story somehow less romantic.

"The soldier had fallen in love with the maiden for her passion though, her strength and more than one invader discovered what that meant the hard way. She gelded them, killed them, became a scourge on them as she sought vengeance. They routed her out eventually though." There was a flash of pride for a second in his voice as he spoke of strength and then a deep frown as Hinata listened on baited breath. She had an idea of what was to come but she hoped for it to be wrong.

"They smashed her teeth in, cut out her tongue and tore off her finger nails, made a tigress without her fangs or claws. Then she was passed around the men, village men were ordered to take a turn too, the dogs in the kennels, the invaders horses. They fucked her until she was pale and cold, whipping her back and marking each new suitor on her forearm." The rain had calmed to a soft pat and the Uchiha's words echoed through the damp room.

"She did not die." Black eyes found white and Hinata realised she'd moved back, inching herself away from the man as he spoke. It was not the story she knew, and she wished she didn't know it now but it was hard to miss the parallels. A beautiful woman pale and cold, with broken teeth and cuts on her arms. Hinata wasn't sure it was the cold that had her shivering anymore.

"History repeats itself and the same situation unfolded years later with a man that bore uncanny resemblance to the soldier, the silent woman who refused to die believed so anyway. The night before they were to marry though his wife to be was found cut open, and a bloody blade was found in his home. He denied the crime but found himself on the gallows anyway." His voice had lost its edge, anger had given way to a dull melancholy.

"His body went missing in the night and was never found though some claimed to have seen a ghost woman carrying it away. What would she do with it? Take it to a place where two things could become one I suppose." Finished Sasuke standing for a moment. Hinata though couldn't help recall her first impressions of this manor, the things that were half one thing and half another completely. And her impressions of this man who seemed to have two similar but fundamentally different personalities, one a mocking arrogant young man the other as stern and cold as her father.

"Y-you two, y-you a-are…" a man twice hung Hinata might have said, or two men hung once each. Or dead…he was dead wasn't he?

"It's just a story girl, for frightening children." Muttered the dark man brushing ice from his hair. His dark eyes were still far away though.

"You should leave now. That rain won't get any lighter." He spoke but Hinata only shook her head in defiance pulling herself onto her feet, one of the man's eyebrows arched and he looked almost impressed.

"I-I'm not going to leave without my friends, I w-won't." her voice cracked but Hinata felt stronger than she ever had with those words, with her first defiance.

"Then you won't ever leave." It didn't sound like a threat, it was too dully spoken as the man shrugged turning away from her.

"Just tell me where they are." Pleaded the young girl, she'd found her courage but she didn't know how long it might last. She needed to find Tenten, she was always brave, she was tougher. A long lingering sigh escaped Sasuke Uchiha before he turned back to her.

"I'll take you to them, you'd only get lost alone." Allowed the man seeming defeated, it was a small victory but to Hinata it seemed too good to be true.

"Y-you will?" she tested her voice still wavering despite herself, dark eyes flashed as Sasuke stepped closer and Hinata jumped back almost into the fire itself.

"For a trade. One single favour you cannot refuse, and I'll take you to see your friends." He'd completely invaded her personal space one icy hand brushing the hair off her shoulder as he slide his thumb over her jaw, the other found her side his fingers trailing like ice even through her damp nightdress. Hinata choked on a breath in the cold embrace, her host's nose almost touching her own.

"Not sex." She whispered rushed for a second, she was too cold to blush though. The dark man smirked and ghosted away from her leaving her frozen and on fire all at once as she tried to deny his effect.

"No nothing so base. Have we a deal?" He asked as the lightning flashed again. Somewhere Tenten and Ino were trapped in this massive confusing castle and for one favour this man would find them for her.

"It's a deal." Hinata answered her voice even again with distance from the pale man.

"They're below now. When we go you must be careful, no innocent can be harmed up here but below the rules begin to blur, innocents can be harmed if they allow it or accept it or don't fight it." Hinata didn't quite understand what Sasuke was trying to say with that, why would she want to be harmed.

"We'll go now?" Her courage was fading fast now and Hinata wanted to move as soon as possible, her friends were waiting for her now. She wouldn't let them down.

"A change of clothing first, then we descend."

* * *

And that's the second in the three shot. Hope you all are still enjoying the dark little story as it unfolds. A few hints already for what's to come in the final part. Let me know what you think so far anyway.

R&R


	3. Chapter 3

Title; Innocence

Disclaimer; Nope I don't own any of the Naruto characters.

Review response- The cannibal story was in fact Choji and Shikamaru. As for the twice hung man that was Sasuke himself, the first time he was a soldier engaged to Sakura, his side lost though and he was hung by the victors. The second time it was a descendant of his far down the line engaged to marry another woman, Ghost!Sakura however killer his fiancé and framed him for it getting him hung as well. Afterward Sakura brought the second Sasuke's body to the castle in the story and had the first Sasuke's soul put into it too, giving us the Sasuke in the story. Hope that makes sense.

* * *

III.

Sakura trailed after them all the way down to the gate to the lower levels. She seemed like a kicked dog trailing after her master at first glance, but when Hinata remembered the story Sasuke had told her she saw something else. Her lingering didn't seem as tragic anymore as it seemed possessive and Hinata wondered just what the silent woman would do if she stood too close to Sasuke or if he showed an interest in her.

Kill her most likely, like she had Sasuke's fiancé before she'd brought him here to try and resurrect her lost lover. 'It pleases her to serve me so I allow her too' what had that really meant?

She leaned up again, aiming for a kiss as they reached the gate but the Uchiha refused her. She looked at Hinata with empty eyes again before she glanced away and stalked back into the shadows, her heel echoing.

"Why don't you kiss her?" the dark haired girl found herself asking. If he really was half her lover then why refuse the kiss, she didn't think he was the type to be put off by the broken teeth and even if he were and all the rest disgusted him too. What was just a kiss?

"It upsets her more. Maybe I kiss differently than she expects or it could remind her of what things used to be like, maybe it's something else entirely but kissing me breaks what's left of her heart." His eyes lingered on the shadows before his dark eyes swung back to Hinata and he smirked. She already knew the smirk though, the tightness behind it. It was an angry smile if such a thing made any sense, equal parts vicious and jovial to hide pain.

"Let's go down." Hinata offered pulling her thoughts away from the strange man and all this madness that seemed to come from nightmares and stories.

"If you wish, keep behind me." The dark man spoke as he unlocked the bolts on the heavy door and pushed it open. If he felt the same difference as Hinata did stepping through then he didn't show it. As she passed through the threshold the cold girl suddenly felt as if she were in a furnace. The heat was almost unbearable, the air thick and clumpy enough to choke on as her numb fingers and toes suddenly seared as if set alight.

"It'll pass." Hand's caught her wrists as she tried to move backward. Hinata tried to kick and struggle but found no leverage and after a moment began to lean in. Sasuke was still icy cold and Hinata found herself sliding her arms around him as she curling into his chest savouring the relief.

Somehow her body adjusted, as it had to the constant cold before and Hinata awkwardly peeled herself off her guide. For his part he didn't comment on the act only twisted and began leading the way.

It was sandy down there and dry Hinata found as she tugged at her clothes. When the Uchiha had offered her a change she'd dressed as warmly as possible expecting the coldness of the higher floors to remain. Now she found most of what she'd chosen bundled in her arms, only politeness keeping her from discarding the awkward weight as she scurried after the dark man.

The halls were barren for what felt like a mile before they came upon the first opening. Ivy hung from the walls, actually seeming to grow from the walls and disappear back into them but it was the centrepiece that caught Hinata's attention. Crystal clean water tumbled out over the marble fountain splashing the ground around it. Before she could think about it Hinata had stepped past Sasuke to the water, hands already cupped and outstretched. Cold hands caught her wrists before she could make it.

"The fires upstairs did they warm you?" he asked as her white eyes flickered to him in question. Softly Hinata shook her head, her wrists didn't burn from his cold touch like they had upstairs. Down here his grip was refreshing.

"Do you think the water here will refresh you Hinata?" It wouldn't she realised very quickly, even if he wouldn't outright say it. His presence did though, the closer he was the less the heat and dryness seemed to drain her. Even his breath seemed to breathe new life into her. Slowly both of his hands slid down her arms, his own strong pair closing tightly around her waist as he carefully pulled her against him.

"Don't get ahead of me again Hinata." He whispered the warning into the shell of her ear breath as cold as ice.

"Y-you said nothing could hurt me here if I didn't want it to." Hinata found herself calling after him as he stalked through the room ignoring the fountain and everything else.

"No one may harm you, however there is no protection from your own stupidity." He retorted only half turning to face the girl still lingering by the fountain. The words stung at her meagre pride but she didn't retort, questioning him in the first place had taken more courage than she thought she'd had. Slowly she stepped past the fountain.

"You can still leave, Hinata Hyuuga." She wasn't sure if he was mocking her again or not but it didn't really matter, the suggestion that she leave the others here alone stirred her resolve back to life.

"Lead on already, Sasuke Uchiha." He smirked his cruel grin at her, the threatening flash of a canine turning it half into a snarl. It was that same old angry smile again.

* * *

He called it a kennel with a blithe laugh and a raised eyebrow but Hinata wasn't sure she agreed with his casual attitude. Thick charred bones littered the wider corridors and there was a stink in the air Hinata couldn't quite identify. It was foul though, more repulsive than even the smell of Konoha burning had been. He had her keep closer than before, never more than a couple of feet. If she even drew an inch past the limit he whirled on her, expression warning.

They'd been in the area for only a few moments before Hinata heard a resounding click and the floor dipped slightly beneath her. She had enough time to gasp before Sasuke had twisted grabbing her by the collar roughly to fling her further down the passage. She hit the ground hard and watched wide eyed as the Uchiha plummeted down the trap hole. She crawled forward carefully just to the edge of the pit but couldn't see anything more than bleak darkness and the glimmer of spear heads thrusting through.

"We're close." The deep voice rumbled feet behind her and she twisted to stare at the pale man leaning casually against the dusty corridor walls. It was hard to miss the dripping echo of the blood falling from beneath his coat or the expression of mild pain he wore.

"You fell?" Hinata found herself stating numbly, try as she might she was still having trouble understanding just what this man was, trouble accepting it. Here was more proof though, more proof that she'd left the world of things making sense.

"I did…traps like that don't work as well on dead men though." He answered plainly, yet as Hinata stood to follow again she saw him limp obviously damaged. Maybe he couldn't die but it seemed pain still affected him.

They heard the clatter first, people whispering in low voices and the rattle of chains moving. It was growing brighter too, so bright as to be painful on her eyes as they finally came upon the source of the noises.

Dead eyes blinked at her, hollow as if they were made of glass. Women of all types filled the room, old, young, fat and thin. Every one of them had a collar around their necks, though what kind varied, some were simply collared, others chained to a wall or the floor and given a few feet of leverage.

"W-what is this p-place?" Hinata stuttered out as she stared at the women, all of them pale and shaking as they stared at the intruders. None of them were standing, they remained on all fours.

"As I said it's a kennel. Where the mad dog keeps his bitches." She'd already known that really, she just hadn't wanted to believe it as she stared around the room at the broken remains of women.

"He hounds them, chases them through the halls night and day snapping at their heels. They don't eat, they don't sleep they just run until finally they can't anymore and they begin to wish for it to just happen, get it over with. That's when he takes them. I followed Sakura down here once, when he was claiming a new girl. She was mesmerised by it, enthralled…personally…I found it unsettling." She watched his dark eyes pass over the room, over each of the women. There was pity there, and revulsion…more revulsion than pity.

"U-unsettling!" Hinata felt herself squeak at the understatement. There had to be two dozen women here, probably more, all of them collared and raped by some wild creature. And he called it unsettling.

"Disturbing, revolting. Take your pick. There." He answered nodding his head to one of the corners. Slowly Hinata picked out the one he meant, brown hair didn't stand out that much and the girl looked far more ragged than Hinata could have imagined her.

"No…no, no, no!" Unconsciously she went scurrying over to her friend falling to her knees beside her. There was only a foot of chain and it pulled tight as the other girl glanced up at her without recognition at first, slowly her large brown eyes began to water before she grasped at Hinata pulling the smaller girl against her.

"Hinata…Hinata…Hinata." It seemed to be the only word Tenten remembered as she clung awkwardly to the Hyuuga girl sobbing. Desperately Hinata turned back to Sasuke, she wasn't sure what to do. How had Tenten gotten like this in one night, the Uchiha had said the creature played with them first, hunted them. Shouldn't that have taken longer.

"Time passes faster down here, one hour above is over twelve down here." The dark man spoke and Hinata could have slapped him. It had been his fault she'd waited so long, he'd wasted her time, the meal, sending her to bed, his ghost stories. If her glare meant anything to him it didn't show, he just twisted glancing around the room again.

"Break the chain, she's coming with us." Ordered Hinata through gritted teeth, pointlessly she grabbed at the chain herself. It was solid though, thick sturdy steel.

"No." he grunted eyes narrowing.

"No, what the hell do you mean no?" Hinata questioned voice rising to a fevered pitch. She barely noticed Tenten releasing her and curling back in on herself.

"I said I'd take you to them, no more. Besides, we've got company." His voice was cold and Hinata finally noticed the tension in the room. All the women were shaking harder than before and bent completely in on themselves…and there was a noise, a low growl echoing through the room.

"Bringing me a treat fractured one?" a twisted rough voice called through the air a laugh soon following it. Hinata found herself stepping closer to her dark guide as the voice sent a shiver through her.

"Break the chain and we can run." Hinata whispered to the Uchiha tightly, there wasn't any change in his expression though as he shook his head in the negative. Frustrated the Hyuuga smacked his arm but it didn't do her any good, he remained impassive.

"When it happens run back the way we came. Don't look back." She stared at him for a few moments before she moved to return to Tenten. His frozen fingers caught her chin though and turned her back to face him. His expression had become a lot colder enough to make her shiver even in the heat.

"She has another collar, she can't leave us anymore. Back the way we came, quickly." He repeated dark eyes swirling like a storm as they bore into Hinata's soft white eyes.

Then it happened. Like a mouth opening up behind him, rows and rows of fangs in a monstrous massive mouth opened out of nowhere behind the Uchiha snapping forward at him. She heard bones crunching as Sasuke pushed her bodily backward, he hadn't moved fast enough though and his left arm was caught in the phantom mouth.

"Go!" He roared voice cracking as another set of fangs opened above him, eyes too massive bloody eyes popping to live around the room. There was still Tenten but suddenly she didn't seem to matter anymore to the Hyuuga, nothing did as the air started twisting in on itself becoming bloody vicious fangs and hungry staring eyes. She was thrown again as Sasuke grabbed her and pushed her toward the way they'd come.

She ran, her friend and guide left behind her. Her eyes shut tight she pushed through anything in her way until she couldn't hear the screech's anymore or the sound of the beast man and Sasuke fighting. Panting exhausted as her heart pounded in her chest Hinata fell against the wall, without the Uchiha the air was even more stagnant and hot.

"Are you ready to leave now?" His voice came first before he peeled himself away from a shadow, seemingly unhurt. For a moment Hinata simply stared at him feeling the chill his presence brought with it.

"Y-you beat it, w-we can go back then. B-back and t-the chain." She didn't want to go back though, she was terrified of seeing those teeth again and hearing the women screaming. And Sasuke, she'd seen the thing tear his arms off. Bone splintering and blood gushing as the flesh was torn away, maybe he was fine now but she'd still seen it.

"I ran. Above in the cold I have power but down here I'm less than a shadow, they rule." Answered Sasuke tilting his head slightly. If he was less than a shadow then what did that make her?

"I'm not leaving." She wouldn't have been able to say it if he wasn't there, she didn't know what she'd do if he hadn't reappeared. He was all she had to protect herself down here and he knew it too.

"Then we move onto your other friend." He muttered turning away. Hinata followed more careful than ever to stay close to her mysterious protector.

"Tenten…" she began, she had to go back. She knew she had to go back for her and yet…she couldn't bring herself to lead the way. She couldn't bring herself to threaten him or try and bargain with him. What if he refused now, what if he abandoned her down here. He had all the power.

"You've already seen one, now I'll bring you to the other. That's our deal." He returned without breaking his stride and Hinata followed him. She could still save Ino, she could get Ino out and then she could come back. There had to be something else the Uchiha would want, after all bringing her down here didn't cost him anything more than time. And time seemed to be something he had plenty of.

She'd come back she told herself. Hinata Hyuuga might have been a coward, meek and shy but she wouldn't abandon a friend.

* * *

"It's getting hotter." Not that the dark man seemed to feel it whatsoever, where she'd had to strip even more clothing to keep from passing out Sasuke had remained heavily dressed. He didn't even seem to sweat.

"We can go back." He returned gruffly.

"Not what I meant, how much deeper is Ino?" Hinata responded drawing closer to him. If she'd had enough courage she might have linked arms with him or taken his hand…for the relief his chill would offer, only for that she told herself.

"One level lower…you should be ready though." He muttered. His walk had returned to his normal limber gait, something Hinata found comforting.

"Ready for what?" the dark haired girl asked as they came over another stair case. An odd smell lingered from below that Hinata couldn't recognise for a moment, it was garlic and several other herbs and spices.

"I told you stories, who do you think we'll find in the kitchens?" He asked reminding her of the first story he'd told, of the two boys. The grotesque cannibal and his shadow.

"It'd go easier if you closed your eyes. Take my hand and I'll lead you." He offered almost gently, somehow Hinata got the feeling that even he was afraid of what was below. It would be easier too and what would it matter. For all intents and purposes she was already in his hand, completely dependent on his protection…the only difference would be her closing her eyes, a final inch to complete dependence…

"No, I…I should see." She said the words but she gripped his hand anyway. It felt like ice so solid and cold but it was pleasant against the heat, at least in some sense she had him in her hand now too.

These two were less picky than the last monster, bodies of both genders began piling up very soon all bloated and fat missing pieces. They'd been butchered, legs and arms crudely cut off and torsos missing large chucks. The glutton was picky though, he'd wasted a lot of these people taking only what Hinata guessed must have been his favourite parts from them.

She had to stop twice to vomit. The first time upon seeing the first victim and getting a smell of the scent of rotten flesh, after that she'd tied a rag around her face. The second time upon stumbling upon two smaller bodies…children. Sasuke hadn't spoken as she coughed up the contents of her stomach, teary eyed.

"It's only going to get worse Hinata Hyuuga.." He warned but she didn't listen. It wasn't long until his words proved true, the dead ones had been bad enough…the still living ones were a whole other thing though. Dazed and shaky with tourniquets around their amputated limbs they didn't seem to notice the dark haired couple passing by them. She couldn't help but grab onto Sasuke as they groaned duly, not one of them had a chain. They weren't locked there but they didn't seem likely to move either, instead they just crowded around the troughs of slob shovelling the food into their swollen bellies with hands if they had any left or just dunking their heads in if they did not.

"You can still close your eyes." She couldn't though, even if she did she'd only see the bodies on the back of her eye lids. Hinata wasn't sure she'd ever close her eyes again.

"Just, Ino's…not far right?" Hinata asked feeling desperate, her guide nodded and pulled her along.

The scents became less foul the deeper they moved in, there was less rot in the air. It was more horrifying when she realised what that meant though, fresher victims and the smell of those victims cooking. There were cages here and chains too binding the less damaged captives. They didn't have the same deformed bellies as the other from eating the slop yet and they were only slightly damaged missing fingers or slivers from there thighs or arms. They weren't brain dead though and that made it worse, they cowered as Hinata passed and then began to beg.

"Free us, free us!" over a dozen voices chorused.

"Kill us, kill us!" another dozen pleaded.

"I can't break those chains." Her companion spoke before she could find her voice to ask him. Couldn't or wouldn't Hinata wondered though as she was dragged further through the winding corridor. What if Ino was chained, would he make her leave the blonde girl too?

"We're here." Sasuke's voice broke Hinata from her daze. The room they were in now was completely unlike the rest of the horror pit. It was a simple dining hall, a long oaken table surrounded by elegant chairs though Hinata couldn't seem to see the walls. The occupants drew her attention though, a tall willowy man hunched over one of the seats and a young blonde sitting directly across from him. A hand found her shoulder before she could race to her friend and Hinata found herself staring into Sasuke's stoic face.

"Carefully." He growled and together both moved slowly through the room to the table. The sickly man glanced up as they reached the table but didn't move to stop Hinata as she clutched her friend. Ino's eyes were blank and dilated and she didn't seem to process Hinata, not even a blink. The dark skinny man raised an eyebrow.

"What do you want?" the question was directed towards Sasuke but it was Hinata that spoke in return.

"What did you do to her?" the Hyuuga half shrieked shaking her friend once more. There was no response though as the blonde's mouth fell open a crack and she began to drool. Cruel coal dark eyes burned into Hinata as the shadow man glared at her.

"She was hungry so we offered her a place at our table." As he spoke the man extended his hands and intertwined his fingers to lean on, he looked almost insulted…as if Hinata had wronged him.

"She's not an innocent." Sasuke spoke before a rumble came from the shadows. Wide eyed Hinata twisted to her companion white eyes imploring black one.

"There's no chain Sasuke we can…" she stopped though as the shadows swelled and a massive pale face lumbered into view. The slim man was smirking now and Hinata felt the air escape her lungs as a monstrous limb swept out of the shadows, Sasuke had wrenched her by the waist out of the way. But he hadn't grabbed Ino, instead the massive hand wrapped around her pulling her into the darkness.

"Let me go Sasuke, let me go!" she shrieked…holding him. She kept both her arms wrapped around his cold body and her face buried in his collar as she asked him to let her go. She had no idea what she'd do if he did though.

As he twisted she caught sight of the monster's face and stopped arguing, stopped shouting. Her own heart hammered in her ears as time seemed to slow to a trickle, yellow eyes bleeding puss and blood, sharp cracked teeth and a massive purple tongue snaking out after them as the swollen giant tried to swallow them both.

* * *

She woke up in the same bed she'd tried sleeping in hours before with a shiver. It was still dark and the storm still raged as angry as before but there was a new shadow in the room, her guide lingered in one of the corners watching her.

"You brought me back?" she asked pulling the covers from her. He hadn't changed her clothes she was relieved to note. Slowly the dark man skulked over to her.

"And you've seen your friends." He returned stepping close to her dark eyes flashing. Hinata felt her throat closing though at what he meant. She'd gotten her end of the bargain, he'd taken her below to see her friends. For a second she looked into his dark eyes.

Then carefully she tilted her mouth upward, laced her fingers behind his neck and pulled him down into a kiss. It turned deep before she even knew what she was doing his cold hands wrapping around her waist and his tongue pushing into her mouth to massage her own. It was her first kiss and she pulled away breathless, eye lashes fluttering as her heart thumped.

"Save them, help me save them and I'll, I'll give you anything you want." She offered her hands still tight around him. His expression was blank though, carefully controlled.

"You already owe me." His voice rang, his fingers raking up her side.

"Not anything though…what, what do you want me to do Sasuke?" she asked trying to lower her voice to that sultry pitch she'd heard the older girls using. She'd give him anything if he freed the others. Softly his right hand found its way up to her chin gripping it softly.

"Leave." He spoke the one word command and Hinata felt her heart flip.

"You want…what!" she spoke in a rush the single word still bouncing around her mind, he wanted her to leave, without her friends. Despite the offer she'd just made to him.

"Are you deaf? I want you gone. Now." He growled stepping back away from the girl.

"I can't, I can't leave without my friends." Hinata pleaded, he had to help her. She couldn't leave them down there to those monsters.

"You were out for an entire day Hinata…there's nothing left of your friends by now. Nothing salvageable." He retorted and she slapped him. It hurt her hand more than anything else but she felt better.

"It's time for you to leave Hinata Hyuuga." He spoke crossing his arms as if to make it final.

"What if I refuse." She asked sharply and in a second he'd closed the distance his cold hand wrapping around her neck. Hinata felt herself rising into the air and grasped at his wrist.

"Being innocent earns you protection, breaking a promise removes it." He spoke sharply a hand ghosting along the inside of her thigh, she doubted he'd force her into that but still the threat was clear…there were many more than him around. No protection none at all, and Ino and Tenten probably were already dead…softly Hinata felt herself nod.

"Okay, I'll go." Back out into the rain and the cold, defeated. Where would she go, it didn't really matter as long as it wasn't this forsaken place. He set her down and quietly she followed him through the same bizarre hallways.

"What makes you different, why are you sending me away and not I don't know, hanging people or something." He was the same as the ones down stairs Hinata was certain, the same kind of creature anyway.

"Age, the longer you spend in here the less you remember of what you were before. Who you were. I'm the youngest, and I have two sets of memories but even still sometimes I…drift." He answered as they reached the entrance hall she'd seen Sakura in for the first time.

"Drift?" echoed Hinata uncertainly, it didn't sound good.

"The older one's thoughts have mostly disappeared now, only shards remain, of Sakura mostly. I still remember a dark haired woman though…she was someone important to me." He continued pushing the door opened, the rain lashing in through the opening. So that had been his entire reason for helping her when he hadn't cared about either Ino or Tenten in the slightest.

"When you were outside earlier, what were you doing?" Hinata wondered, when she'd seen Sakura crying in the library.

"Trying to leave." He answered plainly leading the way across the courtyard.

"You want to leave? Wouldn't you…die?" Hinata asked as they reached the gate, someone had raised it back up more securely than before she hoped. He paused sharply folding his arms beneath the crumbling stone.

"Maybe, but this is as far as I get." He answered and Hinata paused in her stride, moving back under the shelter.

"You can't go any further?" she asked.

"No, never. Even at a full run, or with a jump I stop here, exactly here." He answered.

"I-I could pull you?" Hinata offered awkwardly. She could be killing him with the offer but some small part of her demanded she make it. He hadn't saved Ino or Tenten but he had protected her through it all, for nothing either. He'd only done it on a passing whim.

"Would you really Hinata Hyuuga?" he asked tilting his head slightly.

"Um yes, if you're, if you're ready I guess I can." Answered Hinata. It seemed fair, she owed him in a sense and it was clearly the right thing to do. She'd do it and leave this wretched place behind her.

"I am." He answered and slowly she trailed her hands up to the sides of his face and pulled him down for another kiss. It was strange but out here he wasn't as cold, his skin felt warmer. Her hands went to his hair as she deepened the kiss and then tugged. Hard.

She tripped and fell backward as his weight came on her. They hit the ground and there kiss broke as he began to shiver and shake violently.

"C-c-cold, I'm so cold." He stuttered clinging to her. She felt a rough hammer as his heart began to beat in his rib cage. Wide eyed they stared at one another before Sasuke's lips crashed back over her own.

And then he was yanked away. Hinata saw the rope first around his neck before she saw the screeching woman pulling the other end. Sakura's ruined teeth were on full display as she howled wordlessly dragging the lifeless Sasuke back through the gate. Shell shocked by the time Hinata had made it to her feet they'd both disappeared into the blackness.

"Sasuke! Sasuke!" He was alive, she'd felt it. She'd brought him back to life pulling him through the gate, his lips had been warm for a moment, she felt tears spill from his eyes onto her cheeks.

Nobody answered in the darkness.

Her friends were still in there. And she'd left technically so she'd kept her promise. She could go back, would Sasuke help her now that he knew she could bring him to life. She could free them all if she went back, they couldn't hurt innocents and Sasuke would help her this time.

But she couldn't seem to move her legs, she couldn't find the courage to race back into the nightmare.

Above her the rusted gate creaked and came rushing down again and Hinata made her choice moving on instinct.

* * *

Figured I'd go with the nice old open ending. Did Hinata go back in or run away. You tell me.

Hope you all enjoyed the creepy little one shot. Until next time.

R&R


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